Winter

"No one can get into Paris. Many people are questioning the government’s excuse that it is a chemical explosion, and they have sectioned off Paris to make sure the chemicals aren’t spread into the air. It all sounds made up," a middle-aged man in a suit talks on, on some morning TV show. I know I shouldn’t be sitting here watching this, I should be training or doing anything else but I can’t.

"This is what we are being told but what the people are speaking of is demons and an invisible ward," he says. The humans can’t see the red wall like we can, just a red blur.

"Yet there is no proof. If demons did take over Paris, wouldn't they want to take over other cities? Demons do not exist and what people are saying is just nonsense. There is no video evidence," the other man says. He’s much older, around sixty with a bald head and a smart suit.

"That's because everything electronic turns off when you get near. People are furious and want to hear from their families who are in the city." The man says in return.

"The government will open the city when it is safe," the older man says.

Dabriel turns Atti’s TV off and kneels in front of me. 

"What’s going through that mind my little wildfire?" He asks me.

I glance at him, Dabriel is dressed in a white top that stretches across his chest, and his muscular arms are on display and the huge white wings rest against his sides. His hair is braided at both sides and pulled back to the bottom of his head and his purple eyes watch me closely. He is very handsome, that I've always known. Dabriel could have anyone he wanted because he looks like he fell straight out of heaven.

I'm sure that's out of a song somewhere. Or it should be. I’m glad I didn’t say that out loud, that would have been a cheesy line.

"Winter," he asks and cocks his head to the side.

"Everything is being destroyed because of me. I opened that portal and let him out. The goddess died to stop him and yet I still let him out. I feel like I have all this pressure from that prophecy and who my parents were. My mother believed I would save people. She actually said that to me when I was a baby and yet I’ve saved no one. Paris is literally gone and I know my dear granddad is killing the people there or he already has, I just…" I blurt out and Dabriel rests his finger against my lips to stop my rant.

He stands and offers me a hand to get up. No words, just a hand.

I slide my hand into his and he moves us into the kitchen where Atti is cooking Mags and Jewels chicken breasts. 

"Take us to my town, to the pool Atti," Dabriel says as he walks in. Atti takes one look at me and nods.

"Be back in a second to sort your food out, guys," he tells them both. They both are in their normal cat forms making me think they prefer their glamour’s.

Atti links his hand with mine and presses a kiss to my forehead as he moves us to where he was asked. I have no idea where he means. We appear just outside a long pool in a white building. The sun shines down on the skylight above the pool that’s made of glass. The water is clear and brilliantly blue, blue enough that I know it’s not normal water. The tiles look like real gold and feel cold under my bare feet.

"I’ll come back in a couple of hours for Winter's training," Atti says and kisses me gently before disappearing.

"Where is this, and why did you bring me here?" I ask Dabriel and I watch as he steps back and pulls his shirt off. I didn't see the slits before, they are down the sides of his shirt and they come apart when he pulls. It makes it easy for it to come off. I'm about to comment about how cool that is when I see his chest. Men's chests can be works of art, but Dabriel’s is something else. 

He has hard pecs that lead to an eight pack that dips to his white trousers. There is also a long scar across his chest, it’s pale and looks old. I wonder how that happened?

He undoes the top button on his trousers as I watch and he turns around. My eyes widen when I see his firm ass as his trousers fall to the ground. He kicks them off with his shoes and jumps into the pool with one long dive. I move away when the water splashes me.

I move close to the edge as he rises in the middle of the pool. His white hair comes around his shoulders as the band is loose and his wings are spread out, dripping sparkling water.

"The reason I brought you here is because this is my favourite place and it’s mine. Growing up, I was alone a lot. I had a lot of pressure on me at a young age and I hated that." He tells me. I watch in wonder, as white symbols appear all over his body, there isn’t a space that doesn’t have one. They’re hard to look at, to see what they are other than the outline shape. They look like a mixture of lines, some are like crosses and others look like swirls. I wonder what they mean.

"My mother went into early labour, I wasn't expected for a month and she was out in the human world. She was helping a young human child with cancer and had just healed him. She had me in a park, in the middle of Indiana and she didn't survive it. Angel births are difficult and mothers rarely survive." He says gently.

"I'm so sorry," I say and he nods.

"No one was around but I started glowing. Glowing so bright that all the angels couldn't help but come to me. They all had a vision and had to come to me, no matter what and..." he says.

"They found you," I finish his sentence.

"Yes, and my body was covered in white symbols as my dead mother held onto me. My father never truly cared for her. The bastard had gotten someone else pregnant while my mother was still pregnant with me. I knew he never cared for my mother growing up but I learnt how much he despised me with every glance he gave me. I don’t remember him much as he died when I was very young but what I do remember is being ignored," he says and takes a breath.

"The angels took me home and when the news came that the other princes were born, they worshipped me. The Prince that was strong that the goddess had sent. Then my two younger brothers were born and my father was devoted to them, I think I threatened his power even as a baby," he says.

"Do your people like your brothers like your father did?" I ask.

"Yes. They are cruel and don't hesitate in killing someone.” Dabriel says, his symbols glowing brighter.

“I always let my opponent go. I won't kill for no reason or prove myself to anyone," Dabriel says softly. I just nod.

"You don't have to prove yourself to anyone because of a prophecy. What happened was not your fault and what we do in our future is up to us." He tells me.

"Still, many people have died," I say thinking of Paris. I was there with Atti and Dabriel recently, enjoying Disneyland with all the other normal people. I wonder what’s left of the place where I shared my first kiss with Atti?

"And many more will, that is just the way things are, but if we fight, if you fight, we can make a future worth living in," he says. 

"Yes, because I love you, Winter. I will love you until I take my last breath and even after my life ends." Dabriel says and my breath catches.

I don't say anything as I pull my shirt off. I slowly take all my clothes off as he watches me. Both of us are silent and he swims close to the edge in front of me. When all my clothes are gone, I sit down on the edge and his warm hands go to my hips. He lifts me into the warm water, our bodies pressed together and our lips seconds apart.

"Cor meum tibi, quod tuum est meum in sempiternum.” He whispers and before I can ask what he means he kisses me. My back is pushed carefully against the pool wall as I hook my legs around his waist. Dabriel takes his time, stroking my body with his hands until I can't think straight. When I stroke him and guide him inside me, he starts glowing brighter. White symbols cover every part of his body as he pushes himself fully inside me. He kisses my lips before grabbing hold of my hips and drawing out every thrust. Making me scream out in pleasure with every movement, he glows so bright all I can see is white.

"Dabriel, I love you," I whisper again and again as we both find our finish. A slight burning fills the middle of the top of my back where my shoulder blades meet making me wince.

"My mark," Dabriel says and kisses my forehead. He pulls me lower in the pool until the cold water stops the burning.

"That feels great," I say and he laughs.

"I hope so, my little wildfire."

"Why do you call me that?" I ask him. 

"Because you have the power to destroy everything in your path. Even if it’s taking their hearts or making them bow to you. It's who you are, you stole every part of me from the first moment we met," he says. I don’t know how he does it but his words make me fall in love with him a little bit more.

"When you took my seat in the restaurant," I mumble and he laughs.

"Yes." 

"What were the words you said to me? I didn't recognise the language," I mumble. I also wonder what the new mark looks like.

"The ancient mating words in Latin," Dabriel says and kisses me before he tells me the sweetest and truest words he has ever said to me,

"My heart is yours forever."